Prayagraj: A 21-year-old youth identified as Shivam Rai of Nawabganj was arrested on Friday on the charges of killing his friend and dumping his body near railway track. Cops also seized a hammer used for killing and two SIM cards of the deceased from his possession. The deceased identified as Sumit left his house on July 23 and didn’t return. A missing complaint was lodged at Soraon police station on July 25 and police teams started looking for Sumit. The body of Sumit was found near Phaphamau railway track.After the arrest, Shivam confessed that Sumit alias Sahil was in love with a girl whom Shivam also desired. Since Sumit was unwilling to give up the relationship, Shivam decided to kill him.On July 23, Shivam met Sumit and lured him to a spot near the railway tracks by the banks of the Ganga where he hit him with a hammer he was carrying in his bag. Later, Shivam poured petrol over the body and set it ablaze to prevent identification and fled from the scene.To mislead the police and the victim’s family, Shivam used Sumit’s mobile phone and SIM card to send Instagram messages to the family and shared Sumit’s UPI ID and demanded money, creating the impression that Sumit was still alive. Shivam demanded a ransom of Rs 50 lakh from the family, though they paid a total of only Rs 7,000. He later removed the SIM card from the deceased’s mobile phone and destroyed the phone before returning home. Subsequently, Shivam connected his aunt’s mobile phone to Wi-Fi, created a new Instagram account, and used it to send a message demanding ransom to the Instagram account of the deceased’s brother.
